ESPN scored a 2.1 Nielsen rating for its Monday night
coverage of Duke's upset win over three-time champion
Tennessee during the NCAA women's basketball tournament,
according to USA TODAY's Rudy Martzke. The rating raised
the overall tournament rating 25% over last year to a 1.0
ESPN rating (USA TODAY, 3/24). In Atlanta, Prentis Rogers
writes that Monday's rating gives ESPN its "largest audience
not from the Final Four in its four years of covering the
women's tournament." But ESPN is not worried the loss of TN
will impact the ratings for the Final Four. ESPN
spokesperson Mike Soltys: "The women's Final Four has
established enough of a presence to be strong programming,
regardless of who's playing" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 3/24).
ON THE MEN'S SIDE: In Toronto, William Houston writes
that CTV SportsNet's ratings for the NCAA men's basketball
tournament "are starting to build." The prime-time audience
for its first week of coverage was in the 20,000-35,000
range, but last Thursday's regional semifinals drew 60,000
viewers (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL, 3/24).
WEB MADNESS: ESPN Internet Ventures (EIV) set multiple
records during its men's tournament coverage. On the first
day of the tournament, ESPN.com saw its highest traffic ever
with 22.3 million page views and 3.4 million visits. By
comparison, last year's opening day saw 12 million page
views and 1.9 million visits. During the first week of the
tournament, the site averaged 19.9 million page views and 3
million daily visits, compared to last year's 11.4 million
page views and 1.7 million daily visits (ESPN)....CBS
SportsLine reported opening day totals of approximately 21
million page views and 1.4 million visits (CBS SportsLine).
